8 months old

Crystal is 8 months old now.

her 7th month development :
* she can recognize members of the family and many things in the house, such as lamp, AC, tv, santa clause, wind-bell, chinese poster (with 'fu' letter on it), clock, key, fish lampion, our wedding picture, aloe, duckling, phone, bag.

* she can pronounce words like: mama, papa, nai-nai (means grandma and milk), ce-ce (older sister), ba, da, ta, fa, sa, na. if we call her name, sometimes she will answer by saying, "e...!" or if we talk to her, she sometimes answers "e..." as if she could understand.

* i enjoy singing to her. if i sing "old mac donald had a farm" ... she begins to kick her legs, and if i continue "old mac donald had some sheep ... e a e a o... baba here..baba there..." she would say "ba ...ba....ba...." happily (sometimes she says "da...da....da.." instead of 'ba'). and if i sing a new chinese song, which i am not familiar with the text, so i sing "na...na...na..." she also begins to say "na...na...na...".
there is another song she likes... "doctor john..doctor john...coming doctor john, doctor john, doctor john, wake up now. happy happy yeah..yeah... happy ye..ye.." Hahahahaha.... she likes this song which is often played by a barber shop across the street.

* she can now sit more steadily. but she still cannot roll over now due to too much cloth she wears during winter !!! she could wave bye-bye since last end January.

* she also becomes picky for people, cries when seeing a 'stranger-to-her' in our house.

* she enjoys dropping object and looking at it. if we pick it up and give to her, she will drop it again and again.

jagoan pilih kasih

Aku sebel sama bokap mertua!

Mau dibilang pilih kasih, yah… memang jelas2 banget pilih kasih! Dia fans berat banget sama cucu pertamanya, cowok, umurnya skrg 17 bulan. Sejak umur 4 bulan, sampai sekarang, bokap mertua gua super sibuk dan heboh nyiapin makanan ini itu buat dia. Udang... sayur.... telor ...daging... wortel... segala macam. Begitu giliran baby-ku, dia kayaknya gak terlalu pedulian. Menantu pertamanya sama sekali gak pernah musingi anaknya makan apa.Sudah dipikirin dan disiapkan oleh mertua.

Okehlah, wajar .... namanya juga cucu pertama, bolehlah lebih heboh. Tapi keterlaluannya, dia boleh dibilang gak pernah nyiapin makanan untuk putriku. Padahal putriku dah umur 7 bulan sekarang. Dah boleh makanan banyak jenis makanan.
Dari hasil test darah, babyku kurang Fe dan Zn. Gimana enggak, makanannya (selain susu) cuman bubur atau nasi dan telor. Aku sekarang kerja, hanya memungkinkan pulang rumah jam 6.30 sore. Kadang aku sempatin untuk memasak bubur wortel untuk si kecil. Atau kadang diberi makan buah.

Kemaren malam, dia habis ngantarin tamu yang mau pulang ke bawah. Setelah dia balik, di pintu depan ada cucu pertamanya dan aku menggendong putri kecilku. Begitu masuk pintu, dia menyapa dan tertawa pada cucu pertamanya. Sementara putriku, pas melihat kakeknya datang, dia tertawa senang(mungkin hendak menyambut atau dikira bakal diajak main oleh kakeknya) sambil aku ajarkan pada putriku, ”Yeye ... yeye ....” (artinya kakek) tapi kakeknya menoleh pun tidak ke arah putriku. Dan putriku pun berhenti tertawa. Aku yang merasa gondok !!!!

Wah, bisa panjang ceritanya kalo udah mau ngomong soal bokap mertua gua yang pilih kasih. Dia memang lebih sayang ke anak laki pertamanya, daripada ke anak laki keduanya (suamiku). Dengan begitu, kayaknya juga dia lebih gimana gitu... ama menantu pertamanya, dan pada cucu pertamanya.

Pernah sekali, menantu pertama mau cuci piring, Bokap mertua langsung heboh bilang, ”lo jangan cuci piring.. lo jangan cuci piring. Ntar biar gua aja yang nyuci. Lo jaga anak lo aja.“Setelah makan malam usai, bokap mertua kura-kura dalam perahu... nonton tipi.Akhirnya suami gua yang mau turun tangan buat nyuci. Nyokap mertua gua langsung nyahuti dg suara agak dikerasi, ”lo gak usah nyuci, biar bokap lo yang nyuci aja.” nah, kalo si mak mertua lebih sayang ke anak bungsunya.

Selama winter, iparku beserta anak mereka tinggal di rumah kami. Karena mertua yang jaga cucu. kalo pagi malam mesti dibawa pulang, udara luar terlalu dingin. Nah.. di rumah, urutan nyuci piring paling banyak (kalo anggota udah lengkap) pertama adalah suami gua, kedua adalah gua. Dan menantu pertama ada di urutan terakhir tentunya. Sekali si menantu pertama nyuci piring, bokap mertua gua langsung heboh... nyiapin air hangat untuk nyuci piring.

Menantu pertama kayaknya paling gak selera kalo harus pulang kampung. Udah dua kali imlek, aku yang pulang kampung. Dan bokap mertua merasa amat sangat perlu untuk menjelaskan ke sanak famili dan khalayak ramai, bahwa menantu pertama gak bisa datang kali ini karena flu berat. Yah... begitulah 'keluarga baru'-ku di sini.

Crystal in the water

During winter, we don’t bathe our little Crystal everyday. Probably it makes her a little bit afraid every time we bathe her. One time, she was so afraid that she could move up her bath basin (which is one-third full with water) with one hand !!!

So these days, every time i wash her at night, i will put her legs in the warm water. And she would kick her little legs madly in the wash basin. Same thing if i put her hands in the water. the water will be all over the wooden floor, an extra job for me to wipe it!

If only i could take her to swimming pool ... sighhhhh ... sighhhh... ! In hospital, when she swam for the first time of her life, she cried so loudly. She was only 3 days old at that time.

milk ... milk ...

There is one thing which i think is very amazing happening since these few days.
If our little Crystal is hungry, she will say “nai… nai…” the Chinese of “millk” (!)
Probably this is unconsciously, but there are many times for the same thing to happen.

Since she was within 1 month old, every time i feed or breastfeed her, i will always say: “my little baby is drinking milk” (in Chinese)
does this really have effect on her pronouncing the word “nai…nai…” ?
hopefully so!

What i’ve been doing since the day she was brought home from hospital is talking to her or telling her things in our home, such as TV, lamp, phone, aircon, key, animals pictures, plant, etc. During Chinese new year, when we brought her to village, i pointed chicken, duck and cows to her. She would laugh everytime i woof, quack, moo…. or producing other animals sounds. Hen and dog are her favorite.

try and try again

Suddenly i remember a friend today, Papank,
who died in Sept 1996 just after he graduated.
He ever wrote:
if you try and you fail, don't give up... just try again.
if you fail again, just try and do it again.
if you fail and fail again ..
keep trying and trying again until you succeed.
bcoz once you stop trying then all you've done in the past
will become NOTHING and totally lose its meaning

2nd tooth

the second tooth is coming out now,
on the lower gum, just on the right side of the first tooth.

sometimes i wonder, is it hurting her?
but seems she is not complaining.
5 days ago i met our neighbour whose baby girl is 15-day older than our baby.
she said she worried so much that her baby's tooth was not growing out.
i told her not to worry since every baby has its own grown path.
even though i myself was anxious too,
impatient to welcome her first tooth.
my father told Chunlin by phone that
i was toothing in my 4-month old.
Wow...!!! i just knew it!

first time back to hometown

this is first time Crystal is back for hometown.
everybody loves her, and ... hahaha ... she got a lot of "hong-bao" (ampao).
which is Chinese tradition of giving money in a red envelope.

for Hefei tradition, if some elder people see the baby for the first time, they need to give hongbao, also if the kid/baby visits for the first time, they also should give hongbao. but surely, we (or my parents-in-law) need to 'return' in the future for the children / grandchildren of these people with hongbao too with either similar or more amount of money. fyuuuhhh ... a tiring tradition... 'coz my parents-in-law require me to remember every amount in every hongbao. i even cannot remember all the relatives we visit, bcoz some people are also new to me. this uncle, that auntie, this grandma...that grandpa... ! i would faint !